OUTLOOK - The town council of Outlook met for a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday night, September 28. Present were Councillors Bob Stephenson, Justin Turton, Sharon Bruce, Ryan Husband, and Kyle McLeod, as well as Mayor Maureen Weiterman, Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Trew, and Municipal Clerk Crystal Fisher. Absent was Councillor Kevin Grotheim.
The meeting was broadcast on the Town of Outlook Facebook page.
A number of topics and items were discussed, including the following highlights.
Presentations
Council recognized the efforts made by Outlook Donor's Choice organization and formally declared the month of October as Donor's Choice Month.
Bylaws
Motions were made and carried for the second and third readings of Bylaw 17 (2022) WaterWolf Planning District Agreement.
Motions were made and carried for the second and third readings of Bylaw 18 (2022) WaterWolf District Official Community Plan. Corrections to the plan were made on the town's end.
Reports of Administration & Staff
In discussing two recommendations from the Community Development Advisory Committee, Council first discussed season pass rates at the Jim Kook Rec Plex. The individual season pass rates were priced at $40, while a family pass that would accommodate up to five people cost $80. The Advisory Committee recommended raising the family pass rate to $100 and leaving the individual rate at it's current price. Councillor Husband said that there was quite a bit of discussion on the pricing at a committee meeting, noting that what was being presented to Council was something of a compromise. Councillor Stephenson questioned why there would be an increase in the rates when there is reportedly decreased time that the rink is open in October for people to use the facility. Councillor Husband said that such a concern brought up the questions of when public skating was and how much public skating is going on at the rink. Trew clarified that the rink would be open all day throughout the week, but not for a couple of weekends in October.
Mayor Weiterman called for a motion to accept the new rates, which was carried. Councillor Stephenson was against the motion.
As well, a motion was made to accept the recommendation for a small furnace at the swimming pool.
Unfinished Business
Discussing the Joint Municipal Agreement regarding glass recycling, it was brought up that the Town of Outlook had signed a one-year agreement with SARCAN to recycle household glass earlier this year. SARCAN estimated at that time that the depot would take in, at the most, 4,000 lbs per year, but the Town estimated a higher amount of 6,000 lbs per year. The Town approached communities in the area the gauge interest in contributing to the associated costs of 1.5 cents per pound, and the villages of Conquest and Macrorie, as well as the RM of Fertile Valley cited that their current recycling provider already recycles household glass, so they weren't prepared to support the project at the time.
The villages of Broderick and Glenside, as well as the RM of Rudy agreed to support the project for one year. For the first quarter of the agreement, there has been 1755 lbs of household recycling show up at the SARCAN depot, putting the Town on a trajectory to collect over 7,020 lbs per year. Kudos were sent to the participating communities on the uptake in recycling. The recommended resolution on hand at this meeting was that Council authorize the Mayor and CAO to sign the partner agreements with the villages of Broderick and Glenside and Rudy RM, which was carried.
Chief Administrative Officer Report
Prepared by Kevin Trew
Human Resources:
⦁ Rachel has returned as the Assistant CAO with her first day in office being October 3, we look forward to her return.
⦁ The recreation department welcomed new staff this month including Whittney in the office, we welcome her to a new position where she will be assisting with programming events in recreation and community development and providing some admin support for Megan when she is managing staff, programming and facilities as well as working toward her certification. In addition, we have two “new” staff members who are now working with us on a permanent full time basis after spending time with our summer programming, Sara will be the recreation facilities janitor, working at both the Recplex and the Civic Centre in maintenance/janitorial and Brennan joins us as an additional Recplex Labourer (we will have 3 FT and one PT student going into the season – we expect this to be a full complement).
⦁ In addition, the recreation department is filling the kitchen staff with the hiring of Laurie as the Kitchen Manager and she will be filling the positions shortly.
⦁ In public works, Clay stayed on with us to take a permanent position after spending the summer with us as well as working in recreation last winter as our PT student; Brad joins our team training on all things landfill as well as other duties as needed and we welcome Graham to the team helping with utilities and transportation.
⦁ We are very pleased that we are able to develop staff within for positions and we look forward to developing all of our new recruits and sharing in their successes.
Policy and Procedural Items:
⦁ Planning is beginning on a fall open house in mid November, similar to the one held this spring, we have reached out to the Chamber of Commerce to possibly partner in something with them to highlight business this time; we plan to have our annual report as well as strategic plan report card prepared for that evening.
Successes this Month:
⦁ Many people have noticed the work being done on the Railyard Subdivision – we see Saskpower’s contractor there every day and we look forward to the new street lights and the removal of power lines along Railyway Avenue – while this is not completed, we are so excited to see signs of development in that area very soon.
⦁ We are very excited to see the new rates in Beta testing at the landfill with expected start of November 1 as we work all the kinks out in the next 6 weeks.
Learning Opportunities/Capacity Development:
⦁ Beautification and Property Owner participation – we are pleased to state that many of the remedy orders issued this summer have been acted on by the property owners, however there are still a couple that require the municipality to do the work and charge the owner – unfortunately we will be issuing more citations soon as there are some properties needing clean up, if anyone would like to bring properties to our attention, we will take the information and follow up on the complaint confidentially, you must leave your name for our records.
⦁ It has been brought to our attention that many property owners thought that the Town took responsibility for sidewalk maintenance in the summer time; unfortunately that is not a level of service we provide, very similarly to sidewalk maintenance in the winter. If you see the Town providing sidewalk maintenance, it will either be in front of Town owned property OR it will be remedy order wherein the property owner will be charged extra for the work done by the Town; this is not a shift in the level of service provided, it is meant to provide clarification, if this is a reasonable level of service that should be provided, please let Council members know this and we can plan accordingly for staffing and budget purposes for 2023.
⦁ EMO Coordinator – it pains me to inform everyone that Jim Cheyne has submitted his resignation as the EMO Co-ordinator for the Town of Outlook. Jim was first appointed in April of 2020 when we were entering the pandemic; Jim has done a fantastic job of setting the Town up for the next phase of EMO planning as he was able to make set the expectations of the job to a higher level; we have been extremely well served by Jim in the role and we thank him for his assistance these past two years; I have been in contact with a number of people that may fit the position and I will be conducting talks with at least two individuals over the next week and will hopefully have a recommendation for replacement to Council by the next meeting of Council.
⦁ Rarely, does the Town of Outlook terminate employment relationships, however from time-to-time management has the unenviable task of delivering the bad news to a staff member that it is not working out; we continue to work at developing Team Outlook with the strategic plan in plain site; engaging stakeholders, enhancing partnerships, expanding communications, developing, maintaining and replacing infrastructure, strengthening our position as the Irrigation Capital of Saskatchewan and celebrating our successes while acknowledging our challenges – these are not just words, they are actions.
Current Unfinished Projects:
⦁ Highway Water, Sewer and Storm Water Replacement – Associated Engineering is putting the final touches on the tender to complete the water replacement on Saskatchewan Avenue (Phase 1) and begin the sewer replacement project on Saskatchewan Avenue and McKenzie Street South (Phase 2), this will occur over two years; Council approved Conn Tech as the contractor for Phase 1 at the cost of approximately $1.85 million for fall 2022 and spring 2023 with planned completion of Phase 2 in the summer of 2023 along with tender going out this winter.
⦁ Storm Water Outfalls rehabilitation will be started in October 2022 and completed in spring 2023 – Accurate HD is the chosen contractor and they expect to complete all earth works and piping in the fall with the final vegetation work to be completed in the spring of 2023. We will have a one year warrantee on the vegetation so spring work is preferred to fall.
⦁ Landfill Decommissioning of Old Cell – Negotiations are currently under way with the source material provider to set a price so that the tender can go out without delay – I am disappointed that we are nearing the end of September and this is still not out yet – I was promised by engineers on more than one occasion that the landfill would be complete in 2022; at this point I am doubtful that we will see this…ALTHOUGH the source material is really the key in this project as it is mostly dirtwork that will occur.
⦁ Raw Water Intake/ Water Treatment Plant Upgrade Project – This project is still in the early stages of study and it is expected to have the majority of work happen in late 2023 and 2024.
⦁ Subdivisions Projects
⦁ Railway Commercial/Industrial – as mentioned earlier the utilities are being put in, we have ordered signage for advertising and have a prospectus for buyers.
⦁ Highway Commercial – Associated Engineering has given a high level estimate of $700,000 for the work on the highway commercial subdivision as well as work required because of the traffic impact assessment, we are working with Danny Gray, independent planner on this project, a main stumbling block continues to be permission for the storm water 1 in 300 event holding on the CP Rail land across the highway.
⦁ Residential – Nothing new to report at this time. Our planner is preparing new insights for development of Mann Street residential subdivision with an eye toward further expansion to the east and south over time.
⦁ New Zoning Bylaw – Urban Systems has contacted me with questions regarding the OCP and I am working on answers as we speak.
Future Projects:
⦁ We are still looking for another opportunity to apply for funding under the Transportation stream for the Skytrail Bridge Repair and Trail Enhancement in early 2023.
⦁ The newest ICIP call for green infrastructure application has come out and we expect to apply for funds under this call by November 30.
